Bridgeton pioneer. (Bridgeton, N.J.) 1884-1919, 1887-12-01
IN A MAIL CAR.
What Transpi-es in These
Places.


ton of it's thousands of letters upon
the railroad trains which run between
this city and Philadelphia. The run
from Philadelphia to Bridgeton in the
morning and return in the afternoon
is noted as one of the most difficult to
serve by any of the many clerks who
congregate at the Philadelphia post
Office. Many men have endeavored
to fill the position but few have ever
been successful in meeting the require
ments to fill the position. There is at
present one man engaged on the line
Mr.. David Blew, who is fully capable
and has the reputation of making one
of the best clerks in the employ OF the
government. While a Republican it is
hardly likely that anyone will succeed
him as long as he desires the posi-
ton. Joseph @. Heritage is another
clerk who runs from this city and
makes very capable man but he is to
be succeeded by William J. Kienzle.
Glance in mail car and on one side
and back of the car you will see a
number of boxes in which the various
letters must find their way as they go
on different destinations. On the
other side of the car is an iron frame
from which hang dozen or more mail
bags. The matter of learning the dis
tribution of the mail which is simply
local to any line, is an easy one, and
requires but comparatively short prac-
tise, but o postal clerk is required to
distribute all mail received upon his
line, to understand thoroughly the
railway and stage routes, and the
times of trains at functions through
the State for which he makes a close
distribution, and to SO forward his
mail at all times as to reach all points
near and distant with the greatest
celerity. Should train upon which
a postal clerk runs miss a connection
with trains or other lines by which
he forwards mails, he must be able to
redistribftta that mail SO as to forward
with as much haste as possible, all of
which is detained by the failure to
directly connect.
If anyone can see Clerk Blew with
his coat off, wading through the mail
matter as the West Jersey train pulls
out of Camden, he would solemnly
declare that if his train missed connec-
ton it would be impossible to redis-
tribute his mail to forward it as soon
as possible but utnevertheless the govern
ment expects this of him. Just think
of the mail he handles from Camden,
and yet all of those letters that are
left at Gloucester must be collected,
locked in the bag and thrown out
within the two or three minutes the
train is reaching that station. There
he has to make up the branches for
the connecting trains at Glassboro
and Elmer which are in addition to
regular stations upon the line. Mail
bags are caught and thrown out while
the train is on the run and it is neces-
sary for him not to make a mistake.
If through ignorance or otherwise
the postal clerk missends a letter OF
paper, or fails to forward it by the
route by which it may quickest reach
its addressed destination, the error is
detected and charged against him.
Upon each package of letters made up
for destinations, or another line, or in
post office, must be placed label
the name of the clerk or agent making
it up, the imprint OF his post marking
stamp with date and letters w. & E.
or w. to denote the direction in which
he was running at the time. Similar
slips are used in sacks of newspapers.
All of these slips are forwarded to
Superintendent Jackson and examined
by experts and all errors carefully
noted, though clerk never receives
any commendation for his good work.
The clerks must also keep record
of all exchange pouches, also of
the numbers of packages of letters dis
tributed and report at the end of each
round trip. This hard work is followed
up with examinations which are very
searching and keep the clerk all the
time thinking and studying.
Nobody can tell the work that these
underpaid officials are called upon to
do. After reading this article you
may catch some idea, but you must
view them in the work and form your
opinion then. 1t is given out as a
fact that two thirds of the persons
who endeavor to fill the position of
mail clerk, are not able to meet the
requirements. And while all this work
is expected from these men they are
underpaid clerks. They are paid by
the miles they travel and not the work
they do. This is entirely wrong. In
the past efforts have been made to
change it but have never succeeded.